"Durthu! Tell him to stop!" Eloise shouted.
The Orc groaned and threw them both into the snow and kept walking. Cyrus took that as him agreeing and went to catch up. Unlike the other two, who could traverse decently easily, Cyrus was stuck walking. Durthu was huge and could step through the snow easily and Eloise could literally fly, meanwhile Cyrus had to basically dig his way through the snow to make any progress.
"Aww, need some help?" Eloise flapped her wings above his head.
"I don't need help! Just… gimme a second." Cyrus grumbled climbing on top of the snow and sinking down to his knees.
"Ha!" Eloise laughed before getting a snowball to her face.
"Shut it lady." Cyrus grumbled, deciding to follow behind Durthu who made a walkway in the snow.
The three kept walking, periodically watching the skies in case whatever that thing was circled back. Cyrus particularly was watching the sky. The clouds were beginning to move apart, revealing constellations, but not any he'd ever seen. Durthu seemed to recognize a few, the same for Eloise, but the rest were just random to the trio.
"So those are useless for directions." Cyrus sighed.
"Pretty much." Eloise nodded.
"I see smoke." Durthu pointed at plumes of smoke.
"A town maybe?" Cyrus asked.
"Wouldn't hurt to check." Eloise shrugged.
They began to move with a tad bit more urgency than they had before. They were freezing, literally ice was forming on their limbs. Durthu's breath became visible first, looking like plumes of cigarette smoke. Then came Cyrus, then Eloise. By that point it was becoming hard for them to even move.
That was until they ended up under the branches of a tree. The ice forming on their bodies disappeared almost instantly and the cold they were feeling gradually dissipated. Cyrus narrowed his eyes and looked back at the sky. Maybe it was a hallucination or maybe he was just going insane, but the moon on this floor was weirdly close. The longer he stared the weirder things he noticed. The lines on the moon looked freakishly familiar to the veins of an eyeball, one of the craters seemed bigger and darker than the rest, and the way it seemed to be pulsating unnerved him.
Then the moon moved. Not up or down or side to side, but it seemed to be rotating.
"That's not the moon." Cyrus stated.
"Huh?" Eloise began to look as well.
"That's a big ass fucking eyeball." He said, "Maybe it's associated with the reason we were so cold."
"Like the Brienti?" Durthu asked, scratching his chin.
"The what?" Cyrus turned, "What is that?"
"Monster my kind hunts for fun. They look like eyes and are big, not that big, but pretty big. They make it really cold." Durthu gave a size comparison, the things got bigger than him so they were big enough.
"Do they… eat?" Eloise asked.
"Meat. They eat meat." Durthu nodded.
"Dude! The fuck is up with everything wanting to eat us?!" Cyrus, loudly, raged.
His shouting seemed to get the attention of the moon-eye, causing it to turn back and stare at the forest they were in. Cyrus covered his mouth as he watched the leaves on the trees begin to freeze and crumble off. The eye, called a Brienti, stared for a while longer before turning away and going back to staring at something else.
"Do they have any natural predators?" Eloise asked the Orc.
"What is that?" Durthu tilted his head.
"Is there anything that eats them?" She simplified.
"Lirimanes and Vereens." Durthu held up two fingers, "Only those. Thick fur, the cold doesn't make it through so they do not freeze."
"How do your people hunt them without freezing?" Cyrus asked.
"We have lots of thick hair, like this." He motioned to his own hair, "And use it as blankets and shields against the cold."
"So basically we need to be–" Cyrus began but was interrupted.
"Not we, I have wings with literal armor, I can protect myself." Eloise showed off her wings.
"Yeah okay, fuck you both." Cyrus rolled his eyes.
The boy tried to cover himself in his cloak, which was trying to keep him as warm as he wanted it to. He looked around and began walking, which caused the Orc to freak out and try to stop him. He shushed the giant teenager and motioned at the snow.
Eloise tilted her head confused and tried to motion for him to stop moving until he just audibly sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He felt like he was about to talk to a bunch of genuine idiots.
"The snow will stop us from making a lot of sound while walking. It'll muffle our footsteps." Cyrus said, matter-of-factly.
"Well why didn't you say that?" Eloise whisper-yelled.
"I feel like that's, like, basic common sense." The human whisper-yelled back.
"... Die." She hissed.
The three began to walk, using the snow and trees as cover so the eye-moon didn't notice them. They were doing surprisingly well… until that thing came past again. Durthu noticed it first and stopped, getting close to the ground. Eloise and Cyrus trusted him, immediately following suit. It had grown disturbingly silent once more before there was a high pitched whistling sound, followed by a roar so loud it felt like it was going to burst Cyrus' ear drums. The air pressure that thing left behind was enough to deafen an entire city.
The Brienti quickly snapped to the trees and stared intently as a black blur shot towards it. There was an audible screeching for a moment before the Brienti fell to the ground, a hole punched clean through it. The black blur quickly turned, illuminated by the stars and the real moon in the sky. It dove back towards the forest and past the group. It was much bigger than Cyrus thought.
Just its eye alone was enough to light up the forest. It was a golden eye that dilated as it passed the three. Something about it creeped Cyrus out a freakish amount, he wondered why before the wind hit him. He flew several feet, followed by Durthu and Eloise who fell on top of him. After seeing the eyes of his companions up close he realized what creeped him out so much about the eyes of the blur.
There was a deep intelligence in them. It hadn't just been looking at them, it had been observing them, analyzing them. The thing was gone now, it had disappeared in the darkness of the night sky. Cyrus was up first. He looked at Durthu expectantly.
"I don't know what that was. It wasn't a Lirimane or a Vereen. Those don't fly." Durthu stared back, his tusked canines gleaming in the light.
"You got any clue? You're an angel, you must have seen everything." Cyrus turned to Eloise.
"Father kept me very uh… sheltered…" Eloise began to twirl her hair, "So I haven't seen much of anything, he barely let me do this."
"You asked to be here?" Cyrus was taken-aback.
"Yeah? You guys didn't?" Eloise looked between the two males.
"No." They said in unison.
"I think it's fun though. I can fight new stuff and gain my place in The Ancient Ones hall." Durthu grinned, his axes in hand.
"What's Orc culture like, Durthu?" Eloise flew up and sat on his shoulder.
Cyrus stopped listening, trying to figure out what that thing was. He opened his Hunters Journal and searched through it. Durthu had guessed correctly with the eye, it was called an Ancient Brienti. But the entry that should have been there for that black creature was blank. There was a name but all the rest of the information was just blank.
Serenith.
Species: Unknown
Gender: Female
Origins: Unknown
There was nothing about this thing. Cyrus frowned as he stared. The only thing he got was a name, but the species section was blank. That would mean this creature was a named one rather than just a species. He frowned, finding this more disturbing. If it was named then it was probably special, he'd only ever met one named creature with intelligence and that was a massive Titan who told him riddles and stole his fucking eyes.
He swiped over to his status, seeing some of his skills and status had risen just a little. His Focus status had risen to 15 due to his previous usage of it. He looked at Eloise, she seemed to be the best library of knowledge he currently had access to.
"Have you ever heard of Serenith?" Cyrus asked.
"No, that's a new name to me." Eloise began to think.
As if summoned by them saying her name, there was a loud and deafening screech-roar of some kind. Looking up, with the moon's glow wrapped around her head like a halo, there was that creature. There were shouts nearby, of people. They seemed to be running into hiding. The black flying creature let out that screech again, as if signaling for silence, and silence it got.
The wind stopped, the snow no longer crunched when walking, the people that were shouting went silent, the crackling of fires turned into less than a whisper… It had grown silent under her call. She slowly descended, touching the ground with a silence so primal that it made a shiver run up Cyrus' spine. Durthu stepped in front of his allies, despite his shaking.
"I am not here to fight." There was a voice that seemed to echo from nowhere.
"What was that?" Eloise drew her sword.
"It was that thing…" Cyrus stared, the eyes of the bird-like creature and his meeting.
"Correct, child." The bird-like creature tilted her head.
Her voice was feminine and soft, but held some sort of ancient knowledge in it. It's hard to describe. Even I, the one who created Serenith, find her to be disturbing. I'd abandoned her and her kind for a long while, when I returned they'd… evolved, without my knowledge.
"Why are you here?" Cyrus asked, intrigued but afraid.
"To speak with you, child." The bird-like thing responded.
"Are you Serenith?" Cyrus asked another question.
"I am. I am known as Serenith, an Aetheris. You have caught my attention, you and that egg." Serenith nodded.
In the moonlight, more of her features were visible than just the darkness of her. In her feathers there looked to be stars and galaxies, her beak was straight and ended in a point. Her eyes were bright and intelligent, her figure was healthy and imposing. In his eyes, Serenith looked almost… divine.
But wait… she mentioned the egg?
"Wait, the egg?" Cyrus stuttered.
"Egg? Cyrus, what egg?" Eloise snapped her head to him.
"The egg of my kin. You have one." Serenith lowered her head. Her beak alone was the size of Durthu.
"I uh… I'm sorry?" Cyrus tried to back away but Serenith spread her wings.
"I am not here to take it nor attack you. I only wish to know how you got it, as we were abandoned." Serenith said.
"You are very scary." Durthu was very blunt.
Serenith tilted her head far to the side. She blinked her large eyes, "My apologies, young ones."
This is what the Aetheris had evolved to be able to do. Their species was one that was a headache for me, which is why I abandoned it. I'd created them with a simple idea, every egg that hatched would be different, regardless of a parent's traits. After abandoning the project, I had returned to find that the species had managed to consciously harness this ability.
Serenith had shapeshifted into that of a humanoid form. She was tall and thin, her eyes gleamed and the moon still seemed to form a halo around her head. Her wings had merged to her shoulder blades, creating a beautiful sight. Her skin was pale, her lips full of life, her eyes gleamed with an intelligence unknown to even Eloise. Her wings kept their magnificent black color, the twinkling within them resembled captured stars.
"Still scary but not as scary as before." Durthu nodded.
"You are known as Durthu, The Orc warrior. You, as Eloise, The Creators Favorite. And you… I don't know you." Serenith stared at them respectively, but she focused in on Cyrus, "I am an Aetheris of Time, I can see the past and future of every being I come across. I know all things, alive, dead, and yet to draw their first breath… But you are a mystery."
"What's that mean? Is that bad?" Despite living through hell, Cyrus was still only a child, an afraid one.
"Your name is unknown to me, I can see your past but not your future. It's as if you only exist in the moment. There is no path laid out for you, child Cyrus." Serenith touched his face.
Her hands were cold, but gentle and soft. They held some kind of familiarity, it took Cyrus a while to realize why, "Your hands… They remind me of my moms."
"You intrigue me, child. And I am not the only one you have caught the interest of. My intuition, built by millions of years, tells me that you are important." Serenith softly rubbed his cheek.
Eloise and Durthu stood at the ready to attack as the Aetheris prepared to speak again, "I will be watching you, child Cyrus. You and that egg you have. Take care of it, it is very rare a new Aetheris is born."
"Of course…" Cyrus wanted to sink into her touch, to feel the warmth of his mother again.
"I must leave now. I will be watching your journey. Take this, as a symbol of peace and gratitude." Serenith placed her other hand on his chest.
Serenith's Gift.
Type: Blessing.
Description: The blessing of the Ancient Aetheris, Serenith. She never had the ability to create her own children, and has always lived in loneliness. Being able to see the futures of everything, the Aetheris has never been able to form a bond as everything else would die before she could. This is a blessing, a gift, representing her love and intrigue. Giving the user the ability to build FOCUS faster than average and also increasing sensitivity to Divination. But there is a secret to this gift that is both a curse and a blessing. It allows the holder to see the entire life, past and future, of anything they touch, often unconsciously and all at once.
"Thank you, Ms. Serenith." Cyrus looked at the gift.
"Continue living on, children. Cherish what you have." Serenith smiled as she lifted back to the night sky, "And remember, take care of my egg."
She was too far by the time she finished speaking, Cyrus couldn't hear the second part of what she said but he knew it had something to do with the egg. He pulled it from his inventory and watched as it was perfectly still for the first time since he'd got it a month ago. The egg had changed colors. When he'd first acquired the Aether Egg it was iridescent with a soft glow. Now it had decided, after being in proximity with Serenith who was simply… gone. The egg had turned a solid white with gold specking it and its hatch rate had increased dramatically.
Aether Egg.
Description: The egg of some sort of creature, possibly a species made by God that was abandoned as a project. What will come out of this egg is unknown as it has not been recorded into the database. Whatever comes out, you will have to deal with yourself, Player. Please enjoy.
Hatch Rate: 62.92%
Cyrus stared at the egg. It shook ever so slightly before it went still. He turned and looked at his companions who looked just as confused as him, if not more so. Particularly Eloise. She had just discovered there was a species abandoned by, in her eyes, a loving god. She frowned to herself at this revelation.
Durthu was still on the defensive. He didn't trust that woman, Serenith. She gave him a bad feeling, and the way she spoke as if she only cared about Cyrus, his first friend in his life, unnerved him. The three all stood together for a moment, in the darkness and the silence.
There was a muffled crunch of snow. The first sound since Serenith had silenced… everything. The wind began to whistle, fires crackled to a little louder than a hushed whisper, and trees creaked. Cyrus put the egg away and turned, seeing several climbers all standing there. They looked almost wild, as if they'd been reverted to nothing more than cavemen with weapons.
"It's them… they killed the previous boss." A fellow climber whispered.
"What's happening here?" Cyrus asked.
"The storm has settled. We've been without food for nearly a month, hunting and killing beasts." Another climber answered, "But they're all in hiding, because of that thing. That Black Bird."
"Is that why you all look so feral and scraggly?" Eloise raised a brow.
Oof, sassy am I right? I specifically made her that way, thought it'd be funny.
"We were hunting it, and just as we were about to get it, it left." A dragonid stepped forward, "What were you talking about with it? Are you working with it? Is it the boss of this floor?"
"I don't even think she belongs on this floor. I assume she's from higher up." Cyrus looked at the moon, remembering how it shined a halo on her silhouette.
"Tch…" The dragonid turned and left with his group.
Cyrus and his friends began to walk once more. They had no clear destination in mind, maybe they were just gonna search for the next floor boss. Well, that was the plan… until Durthu suddenly decided to mention the tree they had camped in to the other two, who stared at him dumbfounded and angry.
"What do you mean it disappeared?" Eloise tried keeping calm.
"I saw the branches were stretched across the sky but then it was gone." The Orc shrugged and kept walking.
"So we were inside a magical fucking tree… and you just mention it now?!" Cyrus did not try keeping calm.
"I didn't think it was important, but I thought it was just now." Durthu looked for a place to set up camp for the night.
"Bro?!" Cyrus threw his hands up and looked at Eloise, "This fucking guy!"
"Cyrus, calm down." The angel commanded, her voice stern.
"Yes ma'am." He had no clue why, but Cyrus felt an intense fear at that moment, and calmed down.
"Good, now Durthu, explain." She turned her attention to the tallest of them.
"Well, I felt like the tree was weird so I turned to look at it and saw the branches stretched across the sky. When I turned to look at it a second time, it was gone without a trace." The Orc spoke fast, he was also afraid of the Angel.
"Sounds familiar…" Eloise murmured, looking at the ground.
Durthu began to dig out snow and dirt, creating a large crater in the ground. Despite being axes meant for battle, he went around chopping trees down with Hypnos and Thanatos. He threw the lumber into the center and used his axes to create sparks to burn the wood. He stepped back as it erupted into a pillar of flame. The heat warmed the dirt, got rid of any water stuck, and also melted surrounding snow while warming up the group even more than before.
Cyrus stood near the edge of the crater Durthu had dug out. He had learned this same method of survival by nearly freezing to death during a particularly harsh winter, but looking at Durthu he assumed he learned it merely as recreation.
This sudden realization hit him like a truck. Cyrus had found two people he trusted, yes, but he was different from them. Eloise signed up to enter this place of her own free will and Durthu is happy to be here… but not Cyrus. He hated it in this place, he wanted his parents back and his old life. He didn't want to know any of the skills he currently knows or will have to know.
Holding a sword, hunting his own food, having to kill. He was given time to actually sit and process the last few years now. The warmth of the fire reflected off of his brown skin and shined brightly in his golden-red eyes. He stared into the flames and felt like they were staring back.
Cyrus was in a trance until Eloise came to snap him out of it, placing her hand on his back as if to try and get his attention without freaking him out. He turned his head to the side and saw her leaned down near his shoulder and smiled at him.
He hadn't known her long at all, in fact he only knew her for a few days now… but seeing her smile, the warmth that it radiated, it made him feel at ease. He couldn't tell you nor me why, but the longer he looked at her smile the more his own smile began to slowly creep onto his face.
When I looked into his memories at this moment, he had a simple thought process that, frankly in my opinion, was gross. Blegh.
Her smile is so warm.
It's so nice…
Her hands are so soft and gentle…
I wish I could stay just like this forever.
Eloise, you really are an angel.
Ugh, gross, just recounting that absolute shite made me gag in my mouth. Sorry about that outburst folks, back to our usual scheduling, brought to you by none other than me! God!
Cyrus and Eloise had their little moment by the fire interrupted by Durthu throwing more wood in and slapping them both on their backs. Cyrus squealed like a little girl and Eloise just buckled over and fell face first into the snow. The orc grinned, his tusks gleaming in the fire light.
"Friends! This will be camp! I have food too!" He pulled meat from his inventory.
"Awesome man." Cyrus nodded, rubbing his back.
"How nice, D." Eloise gave a thumbs up. She was muffled by the snow.
"Did I… what's the human phrase? Ruin a moment?" Durthu tilted his head.
"Moment? What moment? There wasn't a moment!" Eloise shot up, her wings puffing out like a pigeon.
"But you were smiling and–" Durthu began.
"No! Shut up! There wasn't a moment!" Cyrus shushed him, "Hey, what monsters did you fight while we were out?"
"Oh!" The orc got distracted and began talking.
Despite these two obviously falling in love at first sight, they refused to admit it… for several years. It's as if they're just running circles around a big cauldron. Durthu knew something was up but after this event he only ever brought it up to make the two embarrassed.
Durthu ranted about monsters and beasts he'd killed while he cooked their meat. He rolled them over the fire and sat on the warm and soft earth. Cyrus and Eloise sat beside him but next to each other, warming themselves by the fire. While Cyrus' cloak did keep him warm as it could, there were some limits here and there. His hands and toes were freezing, even Eloise was cold and was trying to use her wings to keep herself warm. The metal armor wasn't really helping her either.
When the mystery meat was done, Durthu handed it over to the two small ones. He could eat an entire monster by himself, so he just gave them large pieces and he'd eat the rest himself. Yes, that includes the fat and bones. He may be sweet and an idiot, but he still comes from a "barbaric" society. The orc used his tusked canines to crush the bones and crunch them into dust along with the meat to swallow and digest.
Cyrus watched in a mix of amazement and disgust as he watched this orc eat an entire rib cage of something. Eloise minded her business, staring into the fire before slapping her hands on her lap to catch the attention of the two males she was partied with. They looked at her like obedient children, their mouths covered in meat and grease.
"We should talk about ourselves and our lives up to this point." Eloise said.
"... Why?" Cyrus asked.
"To build teamwork and get a better relationship with each other." She answered.
"But… why?" Durthu asked.
"Ask me why after I explain something again and I'm going to cut you." She smiled innocently.
"Yes ma'am." The two said immediately.
"I can start." Eloise smiled.
Ah, every time I hear her speak about her life it makes me feel a little bit bad. Just a little, like how you feel bad seeing an ant walking alone.
Eloise had a pretty depressing life to others, but she liked it quite a bit. She can explain it better, I'm not good with this whole "emotions" thing, I know right? God isn't good with emotions? I invented them!
I grew up in heaven, obviously, I'm an angel and all. Supposedly, The Father regards me as his favorite and didn't want me to fall to corruption or anything. He pretty much kept me alone all the time, other than him I never really got to interact with any of my Angelic brothers and sisters. I learned everything I did through books, sometimes I'd sneak to his observation room and watch the different races and species as they developed and changed.
I always wanted friends of some kind but I never got to have them. I know, depressing right? The Father said friends are a weakness and can lead to an Angels corruption, he said they weren't needed and they'd just take me away from my tasks… But when he came up with the tower, he let my angel brothers and sisters in. It took me a really long time to convince him, he almost didn't let me and I spent a lot of my time trying to find some way to convince him.
I got him by uhm… well this is embarrassing to say, but I got him to agree by lying to him. I told him I'd stay away from everyone and everything and wouldn't fall to corruption if he let me go. He agreed on that condition, but of course I uh… met you guys and broke my promise. I hope he forgives me.
Quite depressing. The poor girl never really got to experience a true bond with anyone… But I don't care! I did what I did for a reason! What's the reason? Oh, well, I wanted to see what would happen if I isolated one of my angels and deemed them my favorite. Out of all the angels I did this experiment on, Eloise was my favorite and most promising.
"I can go next." Durthu raised his big hand, "But my life is very simple. Not as sad as Eloise."
"Go ahead big guy." Cyrus patted his shoulder and glanced at Eloise, who was calmly smiling.
My life as an Orc is very simple. I was born fourteen winters ago–
"You're only fourteen?! I'm sixteen!" Eloise interrupted.
"Dude, I'm fifteen." Cyrus looked between them.
"Oh my god you guys are some babies!" Eloise laughed.
"Shh! Let me back to my story!" Durthu shushed her.
I was born fourteen winters ago. In Orc culture, we don't have a relationship with our parents. Once we are able to hold weapons and walk, we're left on our own. Since I have had but one purpose in my life, to earn my place in The Ancient One's hall. The only way I could do that was to find and kill as many strong beasts as I could. If I died during these journey's, then I would die.
But when I was offered a spot in this tower I took it. If I can climb to the top and challenge the one who brought me here, I will have definitely earned my place in The Ancient One's hall! That is my reason for coming here.
"So… your entire purpose in life is to find something strong enough to kill you?" Eloise asked.
"Yep!" Durthu grinned, "Awesome, right?"
"Sounds like you're mental, my guy." Cyrus chuckled.
"What about you, Cyrus? What's your story?" Eloise turned her attention to him.
"Nothing special, not much worth mentioning." Cyrus waved it off, not wanting to talk much about himself.
"Sounds like you're hiding something." The girl hummed.
"Yeah! We talked, why not you!" Durthu slapped him on the back.
Cyrus violently flinched and fell on the ground, swearing and trying to cool down his now burning back. Eloise and Durthu were trying to convince him to speak about his past, or how he got here, or why he came here, something! Despite traveling with him for about two months now, Durthu didn't know anything about this human and Eloise wanted to learn more about him, he was just being a stubborn bastard and making that impossible.
The boy tried to wave them off and change the conversation but they always brought it back to questioning him regarding his past. With a little bit more pushing, he'd probably crack and get to talking, but the last thing Cyrus wanted from anyone alive was pity. He refused to open up for that sole reason. But after some pestering, he crumbled under the pressure and got to talking.
"My life really wasn't all that before all this began." He motioned around in a broad movement of his arms.
"Okay but that's not an answer." Eloise rolled her eyes.
"Yeah! Come on, talk!" Durthu grinned with his tusked teeth.